Subject:Customer Support or lack of.

Posted by: diverG

Date:4/1/2015 11:35:04 AM

Recently posted a problem I have with SF11 pro(299).
Raised a incident report with Tech support but received no help.
Raised a similar report later with customer support.
Followed up by an online chat with CS. requesting for a refund.
Very un-helpful

Guy D.: We cannot provide a refund for downloadable software, per our refund policy.
Guy D.: Our products offer a full-featured free trial so you may ensure compatibility
and evaluate the software before purchase.
Guy D.: Once the software has been purchased, the sale is final.
Guy D.: We are happy to work with you to resolve any issue you may be having with the software, but we cannot provide a refund for downloadable software.
You are welcome to post the conversation if you would like; our return and refund policy is available to anyone.

The message is pretty clear. Don't respond to upgrade offers without trialling first.
Sony don't give f***k.

Essentially do not take up time limited upgrade offers without thoroughly trialling first.

Subject:RE: Customer Support or lack of.

Reply by: Steve Grisetti

Date:4/2/2015 8:24:54 AM

Wow. Don't know that that's a typical experience.

It's not at all like anything I've ever experienced.

Hope you feel better for sharing it though.

Subject:RE: Customer Support or lack of.

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:4/2/2015 3:32:08 PM

"The message is pretty clear. Don't respond to upgrade offers without trialling first."

Well, yes. This is pretty clear and quite sensible. They've never hidden the fact that download purchases are non-refundable. This advice is true of almost all software products, not just those from Sony Creative Software.

Is there any reason you didn't do the trial first?

Subject:RE: Customer Support or lack of.

Reply by: diverG

Date:4/3/2015 5:23:08 AM

Prior to settling on Sony VP7 many years back the software was trialled extensively prior to purchase. Likewise upgrade offers.
My experience has been very good apart from the initial release of VP11 which would not print HDV to tape (resolved on first update).

This time round I was clearly complacent and accepted a 'short timed' discounted upgrade from SF10. BIG mistake!

The forum was helpful but our combined efforts failed to find a solution.

In order to give SF the best chance a new installation of W7 was installed, and updates through SP1 to date were allowed through before installing SF.
The fault is still there. VP11 & VP12 install and are fully functional but there is clearly a conflict when using SF.

Maybe something wrong with the hardware? I think not as I have also been trialling the new W10 preview on the same machine albeit on a separate HD in order to get an idea of what software might need replacing or upgrading when W10 is released. The good news is that SF11 is fully working under W10 preview, I simply cannot fault it. To my mind this eliminates a hardware conflict.

A support ticket has been raised and the facts presented. To date there has been no response from Tech Support.

Hence my posting of my experiences and maybe guidance/warning to other users. I'll give it another month and if there is no response from tech support this post will be copied to the main VP forum for information.

In the mean time if you have any ideas on this problem I'll be more than pleased to 'experiment'

Subject:RE: Customer Support or lack of.

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:4/4/2015 7:08:37 PM

"The good news is that SF11 is fully working under W10 preview, I simply cannot fault it. To my mind this eliminates a hardware conflict."

Yes. But coupled witht the fact that other people are successfully using V11 (despite some annoyances) in W7(64) and W8(64), that the problem is with your Windowes install, or some othe software having corrupted or changed dsomething SF11 relies on.

Yes, a pity your peers, have been able to pin it down. And SCS haven't ried.

geoff

Subject:RE: Customer Support or lack of.

Reply by: MaleXLR

Date:4/5/2015 5:55:24 AM

I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY OBTAINED A REFUND FOR SF11...

It was a long drawn out process which I wouldn't recommend, but the money is back in my account and I am happily using my old SF9.

Despite being told that there would be no refund under any circumstances I used the following:

"As not only I, but many others have seen a deterioration in SF with each new release I believe that a refund is covered under "Can I exchange a defective product" and as I have fulfilled my part as far as registration and contacting you within 30 days and as these issues have not been resolved, the obligation is with you (under your own terms http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/custservfaq.asp?faq=4) to refer me to a Customer Service Representative."

The refund came very quickly after pointing this out!

Subject:RE: Customer Support or lack of.

Reply by: diverG

Date:4/5/2015 6:51:10 AM

@ Geoff_Wood

After completing a new install of Window 7 and necessary updates I took an image. SF11 was then installed and the 'Normalise' fault was still there. No AV was installed and windows defender was stopped.

I cannot see how other software can have corrupted something that SF11 relies on. There was simply no other software installed. So what am I missing?

VP11 & VP12 were added after re testing SF11. As a precaution I have taken a series of images throughout the install particularly were there is an licence activation

If Tech Support would like remote access to my pc they are very welcome. I can always drop back to a clean Windows install for them as this should offer them the best chance to see what is causing the problem.


@ MaxXLR thanks for the heads up. I've met their terms to date. Will give TS another 30 days.

Subject:RE: Customer Support or lack of.

Reply by: sjm77

Date:4/6/2015 7:35:14 PM

I'm trying to use the 'Get Media from the Web' and when I click on the link all I get, it takes me to the Sony website. Does anyone know how do I get this to work? Thanks

Subject:RE: Customer Support or lack of.

Reply by: MaleXLR

Date:4/7/2015 2:37:25 AM

Good luck diverG.

I wasted soooo much time trying to get my Sound Forge issues resolved. So as to avoid any confusion I sent "support" a video and SF11 misbehaved beautifully, showing them clearly all the bugs and problems.

Despite this, none of the issues were resolved.

One of the many problems was with iZotope. iZotope Support were rational, helpful and quick to respond and gave a specific diagnoses as to why SF wasn't working with the bundled plugins. Conversely, Sony refused to accept that there could be anything wrong with SF and squarely blamed iZotope!

Wasn't it Sony that bundled iZotope with SF and used it as part of their marketing and promotion thrust!

Responsibility....!?!

If you are using SF for very basic tasks it is okay, but when I get stuck into editing and mastering I expected the workflow and stability to be better than SF9. It wasn't.

When you can do direct comparisons with other software using the same OS and drivers and that software doesn't glitch, anyone who still believes that SF is a professional piece of software is deluded!

Get a refund!

Subject:RE: Customer Support or lack of.

Reply by: VsnMxr

Date:5/17/2015 11:41:30 PM

Sony clearly has abandoned this software. I contacted Sony, first in 2013, yes, 2013, to complain about having to run as administrator, only to be ignored.

After fighting with them for a year, I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I wasn't asking for money or a refund, just that they fix their software. They still kept giving me the runaround, but finally, they found a solution.

That solution didn't last very long, so I contacted them again via email asking them to please fix the problem. Again, the same nonsense. They finally gave me a "workaround" and said:

"Thank you for writing back. As you have acknowledged, this is a known issue and our development team is working to find what is causing it. I am only providing you with an instruction so you can at least use the software until this issue is finally fixed. Unfortunately, there is no other workaround or fix to this issue as of yet."

That was FOUR MONTHS AGO!

Either their "development team" is a bunch of idiots, or they're not really working on it as they claim they are. I can't think of any other explanation. They either don't know what they are doing, or they are not doing anything. Neither reason is acceptable.

Subject:RE: Customer Support or lack of.

Reply by: UKharrie

Date:6/1/2015 11:21:35 AM

I'm using SFS v10 and it appears to be working OK ( OS=Win7/32 ), so I hope it still supported.

Whilst I use it very regularly with SMSv12 Platinum, it's not the most exciting software for Audio....IMHO.
If I really want to do something serious, then I use SMS....
Delete the Video tracks that's a distraction,
Add / Rename audio tracks so you know what's what...
This allows me to use many tracks in parallel ( or Solo /Mute / etc. ) and with the "Insert-Vol -or- Pan ) I can visualise the effect and then Render to a Stereo file.

To make a CD I think I'd need SFS.
However, if this is to "Share" then it can easily be copied to a Memory-Stick.

So what I'm wondering is what special features does SFS have?, other than the simplicity which I've come to appreciate, for minor Video-Edit sound fixes?

AS I see it SMS is also a fine Audio Editor with multi-track Options, when I need them.